New study shows global decline in parental trust in childhood vaccines after COVID-19, contributing to increased measles outbreaks
Bar-Ilan University research finds pandemic skepticism continues to impact immunization rates in Israel and the UK, putting herd immunity at risk
Bar-Ilan University
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Prof. Michael Edelstein, The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University
view moreCredit: Courtesy of Bar-Ilan University
October 28, 2025 — An international study led by the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee at Bar-Ilan University reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a diminishing public trust in childhood vaccines, resulting in declining vaccination rates and a resurgence of preventable, life-threatening diseases such as measles. The findings come amid one of the most severe measles outbreaks in Israel in decades, with thousands of infections and multiple child deaths reported nationwide.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Vaccine, the study surveyed 2,047 parents with children born both before and after the pandemic in Israel and the UK and found that coverage for key childhood immunizations, including measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) containing vaccines, has dropped sharply since the pandemic. Among surveyed UK parents, MMR vaccination rates fell from 97.3% among children born before COVID-19 to 93.6% for those born afterward. In Israel, the rate declined from 94.3% to 91.6%. Similar decreases were observed for DTP. Alarmingly, 5% of surveyed parents in the UK and 6.6% in Israel who vaccinated an older child before the pandemic chose not to vaccinate a younger child born afterward for at least one childhood vaccine.
“The study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a clear impact on parents’ attitudes and behavior toward vaccination,” said Prof. Michael Edelstein, public health expert and lead author of the study at Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine. “Beyond the 37% of parents who reported a decline in trust in vaccines after COVID-19, a shift of just 5% who choose not to vaccinate their younger children is enough to rapidly trigger an outbreak. The detected decline in vaccination rates is also evident in populations that previously routinely vaccinated, which raises significant concern for the future.”
The effects are already visible. There were nearly 3,000 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England in 2024, the highest number of cases recorded annually since 2012. Israel has seen a sharp rise in measles cases in recent months, with over 1,800 reported infections by October, and at least eight deaths in toddlers under 2 ½ years old, all unvaccinated. Until recently, Israel had virtually eliminated measles.
The study identified fear of side effects as the main driver of vaccine hesitancy, a concern that existed before COVID-19 but has intensified since. Ninety-two percent of parents in the UK and 63% in Israel cited this as a reason for refusing or delaying vaccinations. The data also revealed disparities across populations: in the UK, a sharper decline was observed among parents of Asian descent, while in Israel, larger decreases were noted among the ultra-Orthodox and Arab sectors.
The researchers emphasize that even small declines in vaccination rates can undermine herd immunity and lead to renewed outbreaks of infectious diseases. They warn that if this global erosion of confidence is not addressed through clear communication, education, and community-based initiatives, decades of progress in disease prevention could be lost.
Prof. Edelstein concluded: “The data indicate that the impact of the pandemic on public trust in vaccines is not only temporary or local, but rather a broad and deep phenomenon with global implications. Dedicated interventions are needed to restore trust and reduce concerns in order to prevent further deterioration.”
About Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is one of Israel’s leading research universities, with ten faculties and over 70 research institutes spanning diverse fields. Home to 24 Israel Prize laureates and numerous internationally acclaimed scholars, the university leads groundbreaking research in AI, sustainability, medical and life sciences, cyber, nanotechnology, and more. The university’s researchers have developed innovations ranging from cancer treatments and clean energy to advanced AI applications and educational technologies. Alongside academic excellence, Bar-Ilan places strong emphasis on community engagement and student well-being, making knowledge and innovation accessible both within and beyond the campus. For more information, visit: https://www.biu.ac.il/en
Journal
Vaccine
Article Title
Comparative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parental behaviour towards childhood vaccination in Israel and the United Kingdom: A self-controlled matched cross-sectional study
Light-based tool continuously monitors vaccine quality during production
Purdue University
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need to rapidly develop, produce and distribute large quantities of new vaccines. A team of researchers at Purdue University and Merck & Co. Inc., known as Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. outside of the U.S. and Canada, has now introduced a new analytical tool that could help pharmaceutical companies boost vaccine production with rapid monitoring and analysis.
The research team, led by Mohit Verma, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue, validated the patent-pending tool in tests that successfully measured the quality and quantity of continuously flowing viral particles.
“The current methods are more time-consuming and offline,” said Shreya Athalye, a Purdue graduate student in agricultural and biological engineering. Samples need to be removed from the production line and transferred to an instrument for testing. But the new quality-control tool can operate on the production line, yielding results in 30 seconds or less. “Doing it online will save time and money in vaccine production,” she said.
Athalye, Verma and their co-authors described their new analytical tool in Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy. They disclosed the innovation to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization, which has applied for a patent to protect the intellectual property. The study combined the expertise of specialists in agricultural and biological engineering, biomedical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and materials science engineering. The Merck co-authors provided the samples and ensured the study’s compatibility with industrial operations.
The researchers based their new tool on Raman spectroscopy, which employs a laser to obtain a sample’s molecular fingerprint. “It’s nondestructive in nature, and its ability to work with samples that have water makes it ideal for biological samples such as vaccines,” Athalye said.
In 2022, Athalye co-authored a study from the labs of Verma and Arezoo Ardekani, professor of mechanical engineering, that applied Raman spectroscopy and machine learning to measure the concentration of viral particles in samples containing measles, mumps and other viruses.
The new study demonstrated the tool’s effectiveness in detecting particles of the human cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes family. Researchers work with viruslike particles in their efforts to develop a CMV vaccine. CMV mainly infects people with compromised immune systems, including those who receive transplants. “CMV structure and mode of action make the vaccine development challenging, but many investigational vaccines are being evaluated in clinical trials,” Athalye noted.
“Process analytical technology, or PAT, holds the potential to enable rapid release of biologics,” Verma said. “We have worked on this collaborative project with the Ardekani lab in mechanical engineering and with the group at Merck to enable PAT using Raman spectroscopy. By demonstrating that we’re able to characterize CMV at industrially relevant concentrations and flow rates, we support easier adoption of this approach in biomanufacturing.”
The research team is unaware of any previous report about a Raman spectroscopy-based tool of this type for detecting CMV particles. This type of tool, known as process analytical technology, offers improved quality control by continuously monitoring the production process.
“The point is that we want to analyze the particle as it is being produced,” Athalye said. And the technology is flexible enough for application to the production of other vaccine types.
In a 2020 study, Verma and his colleagues used Raman spectroscopy to identify bacterial and fungal contaminants of concern to the pharmaceutical industry. In that project, the team developed an assay to detect bacteria 10 times larger than viruses and under static conditions. “In this study, we are moving forward with a system that allows monitoring in continuous flow,” Athalye said.
Also, in 2020, Verma and his co-authors assessed the impact of PAT on the manufacture of antibodies that work much like naturally produced human antibodies.
The researchers tested the new system under a variety of flow rates, including the industrial production flow rate and static conditions. “We wanted to make sure that we were developing a tool that can be transferred to industrial operating conditions,” Athalye said. This applies specifically to continuous manufacturing, in which vaccines and other products flow nonstop from the production line.
“Continuous manufacturing is the future. It is environmentally friendly, and it saves money and resources as well,” Athalye said. “The critical component of continuous manufacturing is developing a robust quality-control tool, or more specifically, a process analytical tool. That’s what drives me to do this research.”
In future work, the team will demonstrate the use of Raman spectroscopy for other viruses, vaccines and virus like particles. “We will also be demonstrating the potential of probe-based methods in delivering such results so that they could be integrated into continuous manufacturing unit operations,” Verma said.
This work was funded by the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.
Journal
Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy
Article Title
Real-time monitoring of attenuated cytomegalovirus using Raman spectroscopy allows non-destructive characterization during flow
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